The Future Of Ecommerce – Interview with Joost, founder of Yoast

Our featured guest this week probably doesn’t need any introduction: Joost de Valk from Yoast!

Yoast is one of the biggest players in SEO optimisation and WordPress plugins.

Joost de Valk is the founder and owner of Yoast, and spends his time as a SEO consultant, blogger, and developer of awesome SEO plugins and tools.

Let’s see what he has to say about the future trends of ecommerce in 2014!

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1. There have been many changes lately in the marketing world: Search engine algorithm changes, big changes at Google (not provided, publisher/author markup, TOS changes, G+ comments for Youtube), Facebook custom audiences, Twitter ads etc. What are your thoughts on these changes? How has the role of online/ecommerce marketing evolved in light of them?

The role doesn’t really change: we need to drive traffic and conversions.

The tactics change though, which isn’t a bad thing but it means you have to continually adapt. It’s also more and more becoming clear that what works for company A doesn’t work for B. Not everyone needs an SEO campaign, not every product is good for Facebook, etc.

That’s what makes it fun too 🙂

2. What challenges do you think SMBs might face with online/ecommerce marketing in 2014? What can they do to overcome them?

The biggest challenge is actually making the right choices and then just doing it. In many ways, lots of tactics will work if you actually follow through on them.

3. 84% of consumers say they trust word-of-mouth the most. What are interesting/ innovative uses of word-of-mouth marketing you’ve seen? Any thoughts on how marketers could take advantage of word-of-mouth?

4. Finally, who do you think will win: Google or Facebook (whichever way you interpret the question)? Why?

They’re different companies that serve different purposes.

I hope Google at some point stops trying to be Facebook and gets back into focusing on their core product: search (and search advertising).

Facebook is a social network that I can’t really see go away anytime soon because of its massive scale.

There’s no winning here, both have their place and honestly, I’d be wary of a world in which either one of them takes both roles.

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Points to ponder over:

Although driving traffic and conversions are always important, adaptation is required for constantly evolving tactics. Every company is unique, and so the challenge is in finding out what works for your company.

The hardest part of anything is making the right decisions, and having the determination to see it through.

Businesses can drive word-of-mouth by encouraging conversations, interactions, and by offering rewards through referrals. Having a conducive environment like that will make word-of-mouth interactions more natural and comfortable!

For tips and solutions to SEO optimisation, check out the Yoast website, or say hi to them on Twitter and Google+!

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